Wood Smoke Advice

When it comes to using wood to create smoke to flavor food in your backyard barbecue, there are some important points you should remember.

Use only HARDWOOD, never softwoods, which contain pitch, resin, and oils, which will coat your food with soot and creosote---not appetizing at all!

Strive for BALANCE when using wood to smoke flavor your meat or fish. You want the smoke to compliment-not compete with the flavor of the meat, spices you are using or the sauce or marinade you are using. You want to accentuate, not bury the flavor of what you’re cooking.

It’s better to have a little wood smoke than too much. Keep this in mind when using more pungent woods like Hickory, Pecan, Oak, Hazelnut, which can turn meat bitter if you over smoke using these woods.

Allow the meat to warm up first before adding wood smoke to your cooking process. As the meat fibers relax more, the smoke will more deeply penetrate the meat.

Use teakettle hot water to soak your wood chips, chunks in. Like the meat, when the wood fibers open up in the hot water, the wood will absorb more water, helping the chips to smolder longer, rather than just burn up.

Green wood Vs seasoned wood? I prefer seasoned wood. Green wood contains a lot of moisture in the wood, which takes energy away from the fire (BTUs). Green wood also produces dense smoke-which contains creosote and can ruin the flavor of your food. Dry wood tends to smolder more evenly and doesn’t take as much BTU energy to create smoke. Experiment with each and decide which is best for you.

Does it matter which type of wood to use Vs the food you are cooking? Many barbecuers maintain that less than 5% of the world’s chefs could distinguish between nut wood and fruit wood. I think you can tell the difference, but then that’s one of the great barbecue controversies.

Can you smoke on a gas grill? Not really. That misnomer has been floated around by gas grill manufacturers for years. I don’t know of any gas grill owner who can honestly say they can get true smoke flavor from their grill.

Use wood chunks on charcoal or let the wood burn down to embers? For grilling and cooking whole hogs, I suggest allowing the wood to burn down into embers, then transfer it to your "pit." The smoke from the embers should be enough to impart enough smoke flavor to satisfy your taste buds.
Some exotic woods you might want to try include:
Dogwood, Sassafras, Madrone, Almond, Beech. Another source for creating smoke is using nut shells, such as pecan, walnut and hazelnut.
I do not recommend sprinkling herbs or spices onto your coals or burners in order to obtain the "flavor" of the herb or spice on your food. Instead, place the seasonings on the food before cooking